Chief Nanaquiba (Aniquiba) Nah-Nah-Qua-Bah

Sachem/hereditary Principal Chief

of the Potawatomi Nation

(1720-1790)

Chief Nanaquiba, biological great grandfather to Chief Abram B. Burnett, was documented as the principal main hereditary sachem chief of all Potawatomis in the 18^th century and was noted as the greatest chieftan the Potawatomis ever had. He was well known for his tactical decisions in battle and protecting his people. Nanaquiba grew to be a very wise old man. But even in his old age, he was still so respected that he continued to hold his young warriors with a firm hand. He helped the French forces lead the attack on British troops Led by Lieutenant Colonel George Munro. General Marquis De Montcalm, who was documented as the most brilliant French general of the colonial period, led the French.

The French and Indians sieged the attack and captured Fort William Henry in August of 1757. Historians agree that the battle constituted one of the bloodiest pages of Colonial American history. Chief Nanaquiba was believed to have had more than one wife. But a Potawatomi woman, Katabwe, is believed to be the mother of many of his children; Topinabee, Chebaas, Kaukema (Cakimi), Sawawk, Shissahecon. As all his children would leave their permanent marks in history, it was Chief Topinabee and Chief Chebaas who would become the hereditary known principal chiefs of the Potawatomi Nation.

The following is from The Potawatomis: Keepers of the Fire, by R. David Edmunds:

"...On August 1, 1757, Montcalm and his army set sail in bateaux for the southern end of Lake George. Accompanying the French force were eighty-eight Potawatomis: seventy from the Saint Joseph and eighteen from Detroit. The Potawatomi warriors were led by Millouisillyny, Ouakousy (Fox), Nanaquiba (Water Moccasin), Oybischagme, and Ninivois. The French and Indian expedition landed near Fort William Henry, and Montcalm dug trenches to position his artillery. Meanwhile, the Potwawatomis and other Indians encircled the British fortress to cut off any reinforcements.

The siege lasted seven days. While the French cannons bombarded the fort, the Indians attached several outbuildings and repulsed a British sortie. Colonel George Munro, the British commander, was determined to withstand the attach, but Montcalm's forces captured a British dispatch informing Munro that he could expect no reinforcements, and Montcalm relayed the message to Munro with a demand that he surrender. At first the British officer refused, but smallpox erupted within the British garrison, and Munro bowed to the inevitable. On the morning of August 9, 1757, he surrendered Fort William Henry.

The French surrender terms were generous. The British gave up their artillery, but were allowed to keep their side arms and personal possessions. Although the French confiscated all ammunition, they agreed to escort the British troops to Fort Edward if the British promised not to serve against the French for eighteen months following their capitulation. But French generosity toward the captives was not shared by the Potawatomis and other Indians. Many of the Potawatomis had journeyed over one thousand miles to fight against their enemy, and they were anxious for the spoils of victory. Although Montcalm pleaded with them to honor his surrender terms, his leas were ignored. As soon as the British garrison evacuated the fort, the warriors stormed into the structure, pillaging property left behind and killing all the smallpox patients too ill to follow the garrison. The Indians then followed the British back to the French camp, where they roamed among the terrified prisoners, seizing the captives' possessions and threatening them with death. Although the French guards could not stop the warriors, Montcalm eventually restored order, and two chiefs from each tribe promised the French general that they would accompany the British to Fort Edward in an attempt to guarantee the captives' safety.

But the promises were broken. On the morning of August 10, the British assembled before dawn in their anxiety to start for the safety of Fort Edward. Montcalm had entrusted the prisoners to the questionable care of the Canadian forces, and before the regular troops who were to form the escort could arrive, the Indians once again entered the encampment. Seventeen British soldiers who were too wounded or ill to make the journey to Fort Edward still were in their beds. The Indians dragged them from their shelters and killed them before the eyes of the other captives. The warriors again pillaged the camp, and when the escort of regulars arrived, the soldiers seemed powerless to stop them. The French formed the British into a column and started down the road toward Fort Edward, but a party of Abnakis fell upon a group of New Hampshire militia at the rear of the procession and began to methodically kill them. The Abnaki attack spread panic throughout the entire British column, and many of the prisoners bolted for the woods in a desperate bid for freedom. But the Potawatomis and other tribesmen pursued the hapless refugees, cutting them down in the forest. Before Montcalm finally restored order, more than two hundred British prisoners had been killed and another two hundred had been carried away as captives by the Indians.

The Potawatomis and other Indians left for Montreal on the day after the massacre, but the British had their revenge. Many of the prisoners killed by the Potawatomis had been infected with smallpox, and the warriors carried the disease back to the west. During the spring and summer of 1758, the disease raged among the tribes of Michigan, reaching epidemic proportions in the villages along the Saint Joseph. Although such chiefs as Ninivois and Nanaquiba survived, many other Potawatomi leaders who had supported the French perished. ... "